Summary Struggles for Democracy

Summary Struggles for Democracy - Transcript

World History Survey

Chapter 35 Struggles for Democracy 1945 Present

Section 1 Patterns of Change Democracy

For democracy to work there must be free and fair elections There must be more than one political party The people of the country should have a good education so that they can make informed choices They should share a common culture All must accept the idea that everyone has equal rights Finally there must be rule by law not by power Many nations in Latin America have had dif culty achieving democracy because all these factors are not present

In 1822 newly independent Brazil began life as a monarchy After 1930 a dictator ruled But in 1956 an elected leader tried to make the economy better He broke up large estates and gave land to the peasants Landowners opposed the plan They backed a group of army leaders who took power in 1964 The military ruled Brazil for 20 years The country s economy grew but the people had few rights When the economy soured in the 1980s the army gave up power to an elected president

Mexico has had stable government for almost all of the 1900s Since the 1920s one political party now called the Institutional Revolutionary Party PRI has been in power The PRI has controlled the local state and national governments At times the party acted harshly to stop any dissent In recent years though the party has opened up the political system to candidates from other parties In 1997 two opposition parties won enough seats to the national legislature to deny the PRI control of that congress

Argentina has struggled toward democracy too In the 1940s and 1950s Juan Per n was a popular dictator He put in place many programs to benefit the masses In 1952 though the army overthrew him and kept control of the government for the next 30 years Army leaders ruled harshly killing many who opposed them In 1982 the army suffered a

stinging defeat in a war with Britain The generals agreed to step down Since 1983 Argentina has been led by freely elected leaders

Section 2 Democratic Challenges in African Nations

Nations have had a hard time setting up democracy in Africa because of colonial rule European powers drew up borders in Africa that paid no attention to ethnic groupings They put people who disliked each other in the same area causing con ict Also they never developed the economies of their colonies Most of the colonies lacked a middle class or skilled workers Both are needed for a strong democracy When Britain and France gave their African colonies independence they gave them democratic governments Soon though problems arose between rival groups

Nigeria is an example of this In 1960 it became independent from Britain But con ict broke out in just a few years The people of one ethnic group tried to break away from Nigeria but lost in a three year civil war After a period of military rule Nigeria nally got an elected government Army of cers said the government was corrupt though and overthrew it Once in power they treated the people from other ethnic groups harshly They allowed elections in 1993 but did not accept the results

In South Africa the con ict was between races A white minority ruled a black majority In 1948 they put in place a policy called apartheid the strict separation of blacks and whites Black South Africans were denied many basic rights Some joined together in a group called the African National Congress ANC to ght for their rights The government cracked down putting many ANC leaders in prison

By the late 1980s several riots had taken place as blacks angrily struck back at the system Also many nations would not buy goods produced in South Africa They hoped to persuade the government to end apartheid In 1990 new President F W de Klerk took that step He made the ANC legal and released ANC leader Nelson Mandela from prison Parliament passed a law ending apartheid In April 1994 all South Africans even

blacks were able to vote in an election for a new leader The ANC and Mandela won easily In 1996 the new government approved a new constitution It gave equal rights to all South Africans

Section 3 Gorbachev Moves Toward Democracy

During the 1960s and 1970s the leaders of the Soviet Union kept tight control on society In 1985 communist Party leaders named Mikhail Gorbachev as the leader of the Soviet Union He was the youngest Soviet leader since Joseph Stalin He was expected to make minor reforms Instead he launched a revolution

Gorbachev felt that Soviet society could not improve without the free ow of ideas and information He started a policy called glasnost or openness He opened churches and released dissenters from prison He allowed books to be published that in the past had been banned Then he began a new policy called perestroika or restructuring It aimed at making the Soviet economy perform better by lifting the tight control on all managers and workers In 1987 he opened up the political system by allowing the Soviet people to elect representatives to a legislature Finally Gorbachev changed Soviet foreign policy He moved to end the arms race and the war in Afghanistan

Gorbachev urged leaders in Eastern Europe to change their policies as well They resisted but the people of their countries wanted reform Protest movements began to build In Poland many years of economic problems led the government to lift a ban on a workers movement called Solidarity Facing growing unrest the government was forced to allow elections The Polish people voted overwhelmingly against the communists and for Solidarity In Hungary reformers took over the communist Party Then it voted itself out of existence

Change soon came to East Germany Its leaders resisted at rst Then thousands of people across the country demanded free elections Soon the Berlin Wall which divided East and West Berlin was down By the end of 1989 the communist Party was out of power

The next year the two parts of Germany East and West were united once again The new nation had many problems though It had to x the problems in the old East German economy

In Czechoslovakia similar calls for reform took place When the government cracked down on protesters thousands of Czechs poured into the streets One day 500 000 people gathered to protest in the nation s capital The communists agreed to give up power In Romania a tough dictator used the army to shoot at protesters The incident enraged Romanians Massive protests forced him out He was captured and executed in 1989 General elections followed

Section 4 Collapse of the Soviet Union

While freedom was sweeping Eastern Europe the Soviet Union had serious troubles People from many different ethnic groups began calling for the right to have their own nation In 1990 Lithuania declared itself independent Gorbachev sent troops and they red on a civilian crowd killing a few people This action and lack of reform cost Gorbachev support among the Soviet people

Many people began to support Boris Yeltsin Old time communists at the same time were becoming angrier at Gorbachev s changes They thought the changes made the Soviet Union weaker In August 1991 they tried to take control of the government Thousands rallied in the streets When the army refused to back the coup leaders they gave up

To strike back the parliament voted to ban the party from any political activity Meanwhile more and more republics in the Soviet Union declared their independence By the end of 1991 Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would no longer exist Russia and the other 14 republics were each becoming independent states

Gorbachev lost all power and Yeltsin became president of Russia He faced many problems Efforts to move the Russian economy toward capitalism caused suffering In addition rebels in the small republic of Chechny declared their independence from Russia Yeltsin refused to allow it He sent thousands of troops who were caught in a bloody war for two years

Yugoslavia was made up of many different ethnic groups and in the early 1990s they began ghting When Serbia tried to control the government two other areas declared independence Slovenia beat back a Serbian invasion but Serbia and Croatia fought a bloody war In 1992 Bosnia Herzegovina also declared independence Serbs who lived in that region opposed the move Using aid from Serbia they fought a brutal civil war with Muslims the largest group in Bosnia The United Nations was able to stop the ghting but peace remains uncertain

The change to democracy and capitalism in Eastern Europe was not smooth The Polish people were frustrated with how long and painful the process was In new elections in 1995 they voted the former leader of Solidarity out as president of Poland In Czechoslovakia democracy led to a breakup In 1993 the country split into two separate nations the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Section 5 China Follows Its Own Path

Mao Zedong had tried to build a China on the ideas of equality revolutionary spirit and hard work But his policies kept the economy from growing very quickly Other leaders tried to modernize the economy This caused Mao to launch the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s The result was chaos and it was followed by a period of more moderate government action

During this time China had little role in world affairs Zhou Enlai another Chinese leader worried about this He worked with U S President Richard Nixon to improve U S Chinese relations

After Mao and Zhou died in 1976 moderates took control of the government The chief leader was Deng Xiaoping He tried to modernize the economy He ended farming communes and allowed farmers more freedom He made similar changes to industry Suddenly people had more income They began to purchase appliances and other goods that had been scarce before

Deng s new plan caused problems The gap between rich and poor grew wider which caused unrest Western political ideas entered the country In 1989 thousands of Chinese students gathered in a public square in the capital of Beijing They called for democracy and freedom Deng responded by sending army troops and tanks to put down the rally Hundreds were killed and thousands wounded China has continued to stamp out protest to this day

Another major issue for China was the status of Hong Kong The island became part of China again in 1997 when the British gave it back after 155 years of colonial rule China promised to respect Hong Kong s freedom for 50 years but many worried

CHAPTER OVERVIEW

The history of Latin America revealed how dif cult it is to

set up a democracy In Africa ethnic con icts worked against democracy In the early 1990s communism fell in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union